Devils Lake. Grafton. Two towns in North Dakota, totalling fewer than 12,000 residents between them.
Yet, if you were to step into the Devils Lake Sports Center gym on Thursday, you would enter an event with energy indistinguishable from an NBA playoff game, or a World Series game, or a Super Bowl, or whatever professional analogy you want to use. These towns may be small, but to say they’re mighty is an understatement.
And on Thursday, they brought with them two of the best Division A boys’ basketball teams in the state. No. 4 Devils Lake, hosting No. 1 Grafton — a ranking that not everybody was satisfied with.
“It just feels like we were disrespected a little bit going into the game because they put us below them,” Devils Lake senior Wylee Delorme said. “They’re a good team, don’t get me wrong… Just feels like we were disrespected.”
But of course, actions say more than words. The Firebirds fought, battled and clawed their way to a victory over the No. 1 Spoilers Thursday night, sending the Devils Lake faithful into a frenzy — one of glee, shock and pure, unbridled excitement. It was a 68-66 victory, with Parker Brodina making the game-winning shot right before the buzzer of regulation, mere seconds after missing a pair of massive free throws.
If there’s any way to prove you were disrespected, that’s the way to do it.
“Those are the games that you want to be in. Nobody learns anything from beating a team by a lot or losing by a lot,” Firebirds head coach Dustin Brodina said. “This was a fun atmosphere. Definitely a postseason-type atmosphere tonight.”
The thing about Thursday night’s game was that it didn’t just come down to the final seconds — well, it did, but it had the feeling of a barnburner from the moment the ball was tipped off. Fans were on their feet, living and dying with every possession and every shot.
Brodina made the first seven points of the game for Devils Lake, giving the Firebirds an early 7-3 lead. There were numerous plays at the basket, with both teams fighting their hardest to keep each possession alive. The Firebirds had a lead as large as 12-7 late in the first quarter, but a three-pointer by the pesky Tony Villareal tied it at 12 with about two seconds left.
Delorme, who carried Devils Lake’s most recent win, had a slow first quarter with just one point. If the Firebirds were going to pull out this upset, they needed him to step up.
“Just stay in the game,” Delorme said. “Stay focused. Your teammates will find you.”
He had a three early on in the second quarter, displaying some of that spark he had on Monday. Shortly thereafter, he committed a personal foul, eliciting a disappointed look in his eyes. But he made up for it with a flashy dunk, and he hung onto the rim for emphasis. Devils Lake led, 19-15.
Grafton got threes from Villareal and Braylon Baldwin, getting it within a point, 22-21. A pair of free throws put the Spoilers in the lead, and it was then that the teams started trading leads. Delorme was right in the middle of it, making a basket that put Devils Lake ahead 26-25.
The Firebirds started to inch away at the end of the half, running their lead to 30-27 after a pair of free throws by Brodina. Mason Palmer penciled in the exclamation mark with a three-pointer at the buzzer, giving Devils Lake a five-point lead and an adrenaline surge at halftime.
“That’s huge,” D. Brodina said. “Anytime you can get a good wide-open shot at the end of a quarter, that’s usually a momentum shift for sure.”
But the Spoilers weren’t going away. They got out to a 9-2 start in the second half and quickly took over the lead, 37-35. Villareal made five of those points, including a three-pointer that tied it at 35 apiece.
Then the Delorme show started back up.
A three-pointer from Delorme put Devils Lake up 38-37. Grafton answered with two points and a free throw, so Delorme responded right back with another three. Villareal made yet another three for the Spoilers, putting Grafton back on top 43-41 — but Delorme went back to work, showing no hesitation in going for the big shot. He landed his third consecutive lead-changing three to make it 44-43.
“When he lets the game come to him — like it did in that third quarter, fourth quarter — let that ball move around to him, that’s the time when he can attack,” D. Brodina said. “He’s great at that, instead of just coming down, chucking it up. But yeah, he’s a great leader. And he showed why he’s so athletic and why he’s playing at the next level today.”
Two free throws put Grafton back in front 45-44, but then it was Delorme once again who gave Devils Lake the lead back, this time with a mere two-pointer. That made it four consecutive lead-changing shots from the 6-foot-5 senior.
“It feels amazing to make the shots,” Delorme said. “Going into the game, I slowed down on myself, shooting the ball down here. But once I started feeling the rhythm, it felt good.”
Delorme had the final three points of the third quarter, all on free throws. Down 48-46 at the time, the shots put Devils Lake up 49-48 heading into the final quarter of play.
The back-and-forth boxing match continued in the fourth quarter, this time with Grafton narrowly edging out Devils Lake as time pressed on. Another key three-pointer by Villareal put Grafton up 55-51, but back-to-back shots by Delorme and Oliver Wirth knotted it back up at 55.
The Spoilers threw a worrisome dagger into Devils Lake’s hopes with about five minutes left in the game, getting back-to-back threes from Baldwin and Ryan Hanson. The Firebirds faced their largest deficit of the game at 66-59. Despite so much effort and so much time with the lead, it felt like maybe a win over the No. 1 team in Division A was too good to be true.
But this game wasn’t going to conclude on such an anticlimactic note. Devils Lake rattled off five quick points, getting a three from Drew Hofstad and a two from Brodina. The crowd was back in it. More importantly, Devils Lake was back in it, slimming the deficit to 66-64.
Wirth made a key layup, tying the game at 66. It was a brand new contest once again, and the winner was going to come down to who could thrive most efficiently under this pressure. The Spoilers started to show that they’re human, missing some of the big shots that had kept them in the game for this long.
With the clock ticking down, Devils Lake got a steal and hustled down the court. Brodina was unable to get a shot off, but he induced a critical foul and a cheer from the crowd, knowing that these free throws could seal a win.
There were just 5.1 seconds left on the clock. Brodina, shooting in the biggest moment of the game thus far, had two massive opportunities completely in his hands.
And he missed them both.
“The coaches are just like, ‘Keep your head up. Still four seconds left, and you gotta play hard,’” Brodina said.
The Firebirds had no margin for error on Grafton’s final possession — they needed a stop to force overtime.
But what they got was even better.
On the inbound pass from the Spoilers, Hofstad jumped in the way and nabbed a steal. He took a brief moment to collect himself, then passed right under the basket to Brodina, who tucked in the layup that won the game of a lifetime. The ball went in the net with about 1.2 seconds left on the clock, which ran out as the players mobbed each other on the court.
Victory.
“Going into the game, the confidence was a little iffy after we lost against Four Winds,” Delorme said. “But once we beat a good team like this, it just brings us back up.”
The win gives Devils Lake the same record as Grafton at 7-1 overall and 2-1 in Region 2. If the Firebirds want to take over that No. 1 ranking, this was the statement they needed to make to achieve that.
“No. 1 on your back is never good to have, because it seems like you got that on your back,” D. Brodina said. “But these guys know that they belong at the top. They’re very confident. We’re athletic, and we’re a very talented crew. We just gotta make sure we’re doing the right things together as a team, and that’ll help us stay on top.”
Devils Lake hits the road to play Turtle Mountain Community on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
